BFI Screenonline: Topical Budget 743-1: The M1's Gallant Dead (1925)

Topical Budget 743-1: The M1's Gallant Dead (1925)

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Main image of Topical Budget 743-1: The M1's Gallant Dead (1925)


19/11/1925
35mm, black and white, 93 feet

Production Company	Topical Film Company

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A service at Portsmouth to mark the loss of the H.M.S. M1 submarine with all 69 of its crew a few days earlier.

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This Topical Budget item is a sombre commemoration of one of Britain's worst peacetime maritime disasters. On 12 November 1925, while performing routine manoeuvres in the English Channel, the submarine H.M.S. M1 collided with the Swedish ship SS Vidar. The interior was quickly flooded, and all 69 crew members lost their lives.

After showing solemn processions of sailors and dignitaries, the film ends with a shot of Able Seaman J.W.Laws, part of the submarine's crew who "escaped" by virtue of not being aboard at the time of the tragedy.

Michael Brooke

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	Complete item (0:52)

	GALLERY / SCRIPTS / AUDIO

	SEE ALSO

	A Very Topical Year: 1925